By: Lauren Cohen, The Campus Movie Guru (University of Miami)
Follow The Campus Movie Guru on Twitter
In honor of the new box-office hit, Inception (aka “the savior-of-the-summer-of-2010”), I’ve decided to compile a list of the top 5 movies that really make you think…and if Inception‘s success and praise from the general public tells us anything, its that grown-up moviegoers aren’t as dumb as filmmakers make us out to be. That, when the rare opportunity arises, we are fully capable of letting our brain juices flow and (gasp!) paying attention to a movie that is neither a slapstick ‘bromance’ or a romantic comedy. So if Inception got you in the mood to watch a movie that will leave you thinking long after the movie is over, be sure to check the following films out!
5) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – What if you could erase someone from your memory entirely, taking away all the bad…but all the good as well. Would you? This is the concept behind the innovative Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, and its trippy imagery and twists will keep you thinking and absorbed throughout.
4) Requiem for a Dream – Requiem for a Dream centers around four different people whose lives are shattered when their drug addictions get out of control. A very thought-provoking, impacting movie.
3) A Clockwork Orange – Not the kind of film that will make you think because it’s hard to understand, but the kind of movie that makes you contemplate morality, the nature of evil, and other such themes. Not for the faint of heart.
2) Memento/The Prestige/Inception – The Nolan films – If there’s one thing Christopher Nolan does well, it’s that he knows how to take the audience for a ride better than any other director out there: Memento – a film that takes place backwards, enough said. The Prestige – one of my all-time favorite twist endings…every time I see it (and I’ve seen it more times than I can count), I find more clues pointing me towards the end shocker; and of course, I just had to add Inception to the list…if you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and see it! You’ll understand why it made the #2 spot quickly enough.
1) Donnie Darko– For those of you that have been lucky enough to see the extremely twisted film that is Donnie Darko, you know that once the movie is over…you pretty much still have absolutely no idea what happened. There are even websites devoted to theories on the entire film and ending.
